Mounting means for sets of components



Jall- 4, 1965 A. M. WILM ETAL 3,227,939

MOUNTING MEANS FOR SETS OF COMPONENTS Filed Feb. 8, 1963 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 l 2 S gli J 5 S O @d 8 u: .,w rk g Q @,1- e@ f gr/ dal" o Q fw 0 g -9 c l i P 5 O O 9 O 9; Q o ,!f

O Q .F 9 9/ Jan 4, 1966 A. M. wlLM ETAL MOUNTING MEANS FOR SETS OF COMPONENTS 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 8, 1965 United States Patent O 3,227,989 hIOUNTING MEANS FOR SETS F CMPNENTS August Louis Max Wilm, Amsterdam, and Cornelis Johannes Jacobs and Ferenc Horvath, s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, assignors to AMP Incorporated, Harrisburg, Pa.

Filed Feb. 8, 1963, Ser. No. 257,137 Claims priority, application Germany, Feb. 14, 1962, A 39,472 6 Claims. (Cl. 339-18) This invention relates to the mounting of a plurality of components in a support rail and is applicable to electrical pin boards where the control circuits of electrical systems are brought to a control panel which includes a plug-contact arrangement for cross-connecting or closing the circuits in desired relationship.

There has been disclosed in Patent No. 3,085,220 granted April 9, 1963 in the name of G. C. Sitz, an electrical pin board comprising a series of insulating blocks mounted side by side to form a housing, each block having a column of openings. Each opening supports and spaces a pair of electrical contacts removably insertable in a direction axial of the opening, each contact of each pair having a leaf spring, a detent engaging a shoulder in the opening to prevent withdrawal of the contact in a direction opposite to that in which the contact is inserted and a slot engaging a second shoulder to limit insertion of the contact. A socket for slidably receiving a pin in a direction opposite to that in which the contacts are inserted to short-circuit the contacts is formed by each pair of leaf springs. Each contact is connected, or has means for connection, to a lead Wire adjacent the face of the block in which the contacts are inserted.

The contacts of the various pairs can be wired together or to input or output leads and this wiring is suitably permanent, alterations of the connections being made by changing the positions of the pins short-circuiting the contacts. Alternatively the wiring together of the contacts and the wiring of the input and output leads may be altered, either by removing contacts from the housing and replacing them in different positions or by moving the wires. lf the columns of passageways in the blocks are relatively arranged to form rows of passageways, one convenient wiring pattern involves connecting one contact in each passageway by lead wires in common by rows and the other contact, also by lead wires, in common by columns. This provides a rectangular grid wiring system and any one column of contacts can be connected to any row of contacts by appropriate insertion of a short-circuiting pin.

The socket blocks are generally secured at opposite ends to mounting rails by means of screws and a cover plate for the device is also secured to the rails, the cover plate having apertures corresponding to the sockets of the blocks so that short-circuiting pins are inserted through the apertures in the plate to the sockets in the blocks. Diliiculty is experienced in accurately positioning the blocks relative to the rails and the plate relative to the blocks so that the apertures in the plate properly register with the sockets in the blocks.

A method of securing components in desired spaced relationship longitudinally of a support rail, according to the invention, comprises slidably engaging parts of the components with the rail, engaging locating means in the components with respective complementary means formed at longitudinally spaced intervals along a support member movable longitudinally of the rail and securing the member against movement longitudinally of the rail.

The invention also includes a set of components ICC mounted on a support rail at spaced locations, the cornponents having parts slidably engaging with the rail and means engaging respective complementary means of a support member extending longitudinally of the rail to secure the components against movement longitudinally of the member, the member being formed with complementary means at longitudinally spaced intervals and being secured against movement longitudinally of the rail.

The invention is advantageously applicable to electrical pin boards comprising sets of socket blocks arranged side by side and includes the method of mounting a plurality of electrical pin board socket blocks in side-by-side relationship behind an apertured cover plate secured against movement relative to a support rail, in which the support member is formed with projections at such spacing that with the projections engaging respective recesses in end parts of the blocks pinreceiving sockets in the blocks are spaced according to the spacing of corresponding apertures in the cover plate, slidably locating the end parts of the blocks and the support member in the channel section with the projections registering with respective recesses in the end parts of the blocks, moving the blocks and the support member longitudinally of the rail to register the sockets in the blocks with corresponding apertures in the cover plate, and securing the support member against movement longitudinally of the rail by bending up ends of the member to engage end parts of the rail.

In an electrical pin board for slidably receiving contact pins and comprising a set of socket blocks arranged in side-by-side relationship and having their sockets located behind pin-receiving apertures in a cover plate of insulating material and the socket blocks mounted at each end of respective mounting rails, according to the inventions the rails are of channel-shaped section adapted to receive respective ends of the blocks, and the ends of the blocks have apertures engaging with respective dimples on a mounting strip, the mounting strip extending longitudinally of the channel-section rail and having dimples at spaced intervals along its length for locating the blocks in desired relationship.

Suitably each mounting strip is of metal and is locked against movement in the associated rail by having its ends bent back around the ends of the rail. Preferably the channel-section of the rail is of C-shaped form providing a shoulder adapted to engage a complementary shoulder or recess on the ends of the blocks.

The invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying partly diagrammatic drawings, in which:

FIGURE l is an isometric front view of a pin board;

FIGURE 2 is an isometric edge view of part of a simple pin board with part of the rail, supporting strip and a block cut away; and v FIGURE 3 is a cross section of an end part of a block in engagement with a supporting rail.

The pin board of FIGURE 1 comprises a composite housing made up of a series of socket blocks 1 of insulating material mounted side by side between a pair of parallel spaced mounting rails 2. Each block 1 has two columns of passageways 3 and 4 extending through the block from the front to the rear face and each passageway 3 is paired with a passageway 4 to form at the front face of the block 1 a socket for a Contact pin. Each passageway 3 and 4 contains a contact secured to a lead extending behind the housing as is fully described in Patent 3,085,- 220. A front plate 5 is secured to the rails 2 by screws 6 and is formed with a series of rows of apertures 7 registering with the pin sockets formed in the blocks 1 by the pairs of passageways 3 and 4.

Opposite ends of each block 1 are formed with projecting lugs 8 secured Within channel-shaped recesses of 3 respective support rails 2, as is described in detail below in connection with FIGURES 2 and 3.

Pins 9 are provided for insertion in the apertures 7 and into the sockets in the blocks 1, and comprise metallic cylinders each having an insulated portion for gripping during insertion.

In operation a pin 9 is inserted through an aperture 7 into the socket in the block 1 behind the aperture to shortcircuit the connectors disposed in the passages 3 and 4. This eifects connection between the leads connected to the connectors in passageways 3 and 4.

In the simplified pin board of FIGURES 2 `an-d 3, a mounting rail 2 of channel section extends along the side edge of the front plate 5 and the blocks 1 have lugs 8 secured within the channel of the rail 2. The limb of the channel-section rail 2 remote from the front plate 5 is formed at its end with a shoulder slidably engaging within a recess 11 formed at the root of the lug S on the block 1. The lugs of the blocks 1 are thus slidable longitudinally of the channel-section support rail 2 but are not withdrawable laterally of the channel section. Within the channel each lug 8 is formed with a bore 8A extending tranversely of the channel and a mounting strip 12 extends longitudinally of the channel-section rail 2 between the lug 8 and the limb of the channel section having the shoulder 10. The mounting strip 12 is formed at regularly spaced intervals with dimples 13 extending into the channel-shaped vsection from the limb thereof, each dimple 13 engaging a respective bore 8A in a lug 8 of a block 1. At opposite ends of the rail 2 the ends 12A of the mounting strip 12 extend from the channel section and are bent up against the ends of the adjacent section-limb to secure the mounting strip 12 against movement longitudinally of the support rail 2.

In assembly of the pin board construction of FIGURES 2 and 3, the front plate 5 is secured at opposite side edges to respective support rails 2 by suitable screws. Mounting strips 12 are moved along the channels of the support rails 2 and the blocks 1 are slid into position by engagement of the lugs 8 within the channels of the support rails 2 with the bores 8A in the lugs 8 of the blocks engaging respective dimples 13 in the mounting strips 12 to secure the blocks 1 against movement relative to the mounting strips and maintain the blocks 1 in desired spaced relationship. The blocks 1 are positioned with their sockets in alignment with the apertures 7 formed in the mounting plate 5 by movement of the blocks 1 and the mounting strips 12 relative to the support rails 2. When desired alignment has been achieved, the ends of 12A of the mounting strips 12 are bent up to register with ends of the support rails 2 and lock the blocks 1 and the mounting strips 12 against longitudinal movement relative to the support rails 2.

The rails 2 are suitably formed of aluminum or an insulating material, and the mounting strips 12 are suitably formed of thin strip brass, for example 0.3 mm. thick. It will be appreciated that the mounting strip may readily be cut to any desired length and that its thinness and consequent flexibility facilititates assembly of the blocks 1 in the support rails 2.

We claim:

1. In an assembly for mounting components the combination comprising a series of components each having a body with at least one projection extending therefrom, a recess extending across said projection transversely to said body, a rail having an interior conguration to receive the component projections with a portion of said rail tting into the projection recess to hold each component against relative movement transverse to the length of said rail, the dimensions of said recess and said portion of said rail being such as to permit relative Sliding movement of said components in the side-by-side relationship in said rail, and means including a further projection and a further recess for each component within said rail to hold said components in exact position in said rail.

2. The assembly of claim 1 wherein said further projection is formed on a member secured to said rail and said further recess is formed in the projection of each component.

3. The assembly of claim 1 wherein each said further projection is formed on an integral member extending along the length of said rail with the further projections being in alignment and spaced apart and with the further recess being formed in each component whereby said components are spaced along said rail.

4. The assembly of claim 1 wherein said further projections are dimples formed on a ilat metallic strip secured to said rail and said recesses are formed in said component projections and of a dimension to receive said dimples.

5. An electrical pinboard comprising a set of socket blocks, a cover plate of insulating material fitted over said socket blocks and having an array of aperatures therein, the blocks having at each end a projecting lug, each lug having a recess extending transversely to the length of the block, a channel member adapted to be iitted over said lugs with a portion thereof disposed within the lug recess, means to secure said cover plate to said channels, a mountstrip extending longitudinally within each channel and having at spaced intervals projections extending inwardly of the said channels, each said lug including a further recess engaged by one of the said projections to position the respective block along the said channels, and means for securing the mounting strips to the said channels whereby the blocks are held in side-by-side relationship with the sockets thereof registered with the apertures of the cover plate in said pinboard.

6. The pinboard according to claim 5 wherein the mounting strip is comprised of a flat metallic member and the said projections are dimples formed in said strip.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,936,963 11/1933 Dutzrnann. 3,045,329 7/1962 Carli et al 29-256 X 3,085,220 4/1963 Sitz 339-18 FOREIGN PATENTS 69,235 5/ 1958 France. 1,241,173 8/1960 France. 287,435 7/1931 Italy.

JOSEPH D. SEERS, Primary Examiner.

PATRICK A. CLIFFORD, Examiner, 

1. IN AN ASSEMBLY FOR MOUNTING COMPONENTS THE COMBINATION COMPRISING A SERIES OF COMPONENTS EACH HAVING A BODY WITH AT LEAST ONE PROJECTION EXTENDING THEREFROM, A RECESS EXTENDING ACROSS SAID PROJECTION TRANSVERSELY TO SAID BODY, A RAIL HAVING AN INTERIOR CONFIGURATION TO RECEIVE THE COMPONENT PROJECTIONS WITH A PORTION OF SAID RAIL FITTING INTO THE PROJECTION RECESS TO HOLD EACH COMPONENT AGAINST RELATIVE MOVEMENT TRANSVERSE TO THE LENGTH OF SAID RAIL, THE DIMENSIONS OF SAID RECESS AND SAID PORTION OF SAID RAIL BEING SUCH AS TO PERMIT RELATIVE SLIDING MOVEMENT OF SAID COMPONENTS IN THE SIDE-BY-SIDE RELATIONSHIP IN SAID RAIL, AND MEANS INCLUDING A FURTHER PROJECTION AND A FURTHERE RECESS FOR EACH COMPONENT WITHIN SAID RAIL TO HOLD SAID COMPONENTS IN EXACT POSITION IN SAID RAIL. 